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OLOF KRARER 



PPiE iSQUIffi/IUX IaDY 



A STORY OF HER NATIVE HOME 



BY 

ALBERT S. POST, A. M. 



OTTAWA, ILLS. 
1887 



OLOF KRARER 



THE ESQUIMAUX LADY 



A STORY OF HER NATIVE HOME 



RY 



ALBERT S. POST, A. M. 




OTTAWA, ILLS. 
1887 






( OI'Vr.KlHT 

Bv Albert S. Posj' 

A. D. 1887 



Press of Wm. Osman & Sons. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In writing this little book, it has been our constant 
aim to make it, as nearly as possible, an autobiogra- 
phy, giving Miss Krarer's own thoughts and words, 
avoiding some of the little errors, caused by her im- 
perfect knowledge of English, which are thought by 
some to add a certain charm to her conversation. 
If, near the conclusion, I may seem to have departed 
from this plan, it is only because she desired me to 
attempt the expression of her thought in more elab- 
orate language than she can herself, at present, make 
use of. 

She is authority for the facts, from beginning to 
end. 

Hoping that the story of her eventful life may be 
as interesting to those who read, as it has alread}' 
been to thousands who have heard it from her own 
lips ; and witli the heartfelt wish that it may be the 
means of enabling her to accomplish her cherished 
purpose, I am glad to have this opportunity of as- 
sisting in her work. 

Albert S. Post. 



OLOF KRARER. 



I WAS born in Greenland, on the east coast. I am 
the youngest of eight children. My three sisters 
and four brothers are all living in Iceland. My 
father is living in Manitoba. My mother died in 
Iceland when I was sixteen years old. 

We lived near the sea-shore in Greenland. Our 
house was built of snow. It was round, perhaps 
sixteen feet across, and coming to a point at the top. 
It was lined with fur on all sides, and was carpeted 
with a double thickness of fur. 

The way they lined the house was to take a skin 
of some animal, and hold it near a fire, which was 
in the centre of the room. When the skin was heat- 
ed through, they took it and pressed it against the 
wall. In a short time, it stuck to the wall so tightly 
that it could not be pulled off without tearing the 
skin. 

The door was a thick curtain of fur, hung over 
the doorway, by heating the upper part, and letting 
it stick fast to the wall. Outside of the door was a 
long, narrow passageway, just high enough for one 
of us little Esquimaux people to stand up straight 
in. That would be about high enough for a child 



2 Olof Krarer. 

six years old, in this country ; and it was only wide 
enough for one person to go through at a time. If 
one wanted to go out, and another wanted to go in, 
at the same time, one would have to back out and 
let the other go first. This passageway was not 
straight ; but turned to one side, so as not to let the 
wind blow in. 

Our fireplace was in the centre of the house. The 
bottom was a large, flat stone, with other stones and 
whalebone put about the edge to keep the fire from 
getting out into the room. When we wanted to 
build a fire, we would put some whalebone and lean 
meat on the stone; then a little dry moss was put 
in, and then my father would take a flint and a 
whale's tooth, or some other hard bone, and strike fire 
upon the moss. Sometimes he could do it easily, 
but sometimes it took a long while. After the fire 
started he would put some blubber upon it. 

Although it was so very cold, we would often be 
without a fire, for what we made the fire of was what 
we had to live on, and we could not always afford to 
burn it. Our fire did not warm the room very much. 
It was mostly to give light, so that it might be a 
little more cheerful in the room. When we had no 
fire it was very dark. 

There was no chance to play round and romp in- 
side the snow-house. We just had to sit with our 
arms folded and keep .still. It was in this way that 
my arms came to have such a different shape from 
people's arms in this country. Where their muscle 



. / Great Delicacy. 3 

is large and strong, I have but very little; and instead 
of that, I have a large bunch of muscle on the upper 
side of my arms, and they are crooked, so that I can 
never straighten them. A doctor in Iceland once 
tried to straighten one arm by pulling, but he could 
not change it one bit; and it was very sore for a long 
time afterward and the muscles were much swollen. 
But it was not so with my father and brothers. They 
went out to hunt and had more exercise and more 
pulling to do, and so their arms were straight. 

It was a great thing when the men would come 
home from a hunt, for then we would have a great 
deal to talk about: — how far they went, how cold it 
was, how they found the bear, or walrus, or seal, and 
who was most active and brave in killing it. Father 
would often say to mother, " Oh, how I wish you had 
been along, for we had such a nice drink of warm 
blood." The warm blood of a dying animal was con- 
sidered the greatest luxury we could get, because we 
had not any cooked food at all. We ate it all frozen 
and raw, except when fresh from the animal. It was 
a great thing to strike the animal first with a spear, 
for the one who drew first blood was owner of the 
skin and was the boss of the whole job. They just 
had to cut it to suit him. The flesh was divided 
equally between all the hunters. 

Sometimes we used to get very tired in the dark 
snow-house, and then we would try a little amuse- 
ment. Two of us would sit down on the fur carpet 
and look into one another's faces and s^iiess i<'lio was 



4 Olof Krarer. 

the prettiest. We had to guess, for we had no look- 
ing-glass in which to see our own faces. The one 
whose face shone slickest with the grease was called 
the prettiest. 

If at any time we grew too tired of it all and ven- 
tured to romp and play, we were in danger of being 
punished. As there were no trees from which to 
cut switches there, they took a different way. When 
any child was naughty, mother would take a bone 
and she would put it into the fire and leave it there 
until it was hot enough for the grease to boil out. 
Then she would take it and slap that on her child 
and burn it. She was not particular where she 
burned her child, only she was careful not to touch 
the face. 

I can well remember what I got my last punish- 
ment for. I had been playing with my little broth- 
er inside the snow-house and I got mad at him, and 
so I threw him down and bit him on the back of the 
neck. Then mother heated a bone and burned me 
on the same place where I bit him. I got tired of 
that and didn't do that kind of a trick afterwards. 

But it was not always so that we had to stay in 
the snow-house. Once in a while father would come 
in and say it was not so cold as usual, and then we 
would have a chance to look round outside the snow- 
house. We never took a long walk. As nearly as I 
can remember, my father's house was on a low plain 
near the sea-shore. It sloped gently inland, and we 
could have seen a great way into the back countr\- 



The Dog-Sleigh Ride 5 

if it had not been for the great snowdrifts and 
masses of ice. There were some steep, jagged rocks 
in sight of our village, and during the long daytime 
enough of the snow would melt off to leave the rocks 
bare in a few places. On these bare spots we would 
find a kind of brown moss, which we gathered and 
dried to light our fires with. 

We never saw anything green in Greenland, and 
I never could understand why they called it by that 
name. 

When we looked out toward the ocean, we could 
not see very far, for even in the warmest season there 
was only a small space of open water, and beyond 
that the ice was all piled up in rough, broken masses. 

The great event in our family life, however, was 
the dog-sleigh ride. When father told us we could 
go, we came as near dancing and clapping our hands 
for joy as Esquimaux children ever did. But we did 
not have a fine cutter, with large horses and chiming 
bells. We did not even have an old-fashioned bob- 
sled, in which young men and young women have 
such good times in your country. 

Sometimes the sleigh would be made of a great 
wide piece of bone from the jaws of a whale, one 
end of which turned up like a runner. But more 
often it would be either a skin of some animal laid 
flat on the ground, or a great frozen fish cut in two 
at the back and then turned right over. I never saw 
such a fish in this country, or in Iceland, so I cannot 
tell what kind of fish it was. 



6 Olof Krarcr. 

Our sleigh was drawn by dogs — sometimes six and 
sometimes ten or twelve. Each dog had a collar 
round his neck and a strip of reindeer hide tied into 
the collar and to the sleigh. When the dogs were 
well broken, they did not need any lines to guide 
them; but if they were not well trained, they had to 
have lines to contrpl them. While we were getting 
ready to start, the dogs would jump about and whine 
and be as anxious to go as fiery horses in this coun- 
try. The trained dogs would run forward and put 
their noses right into their collars without any trou- 
ble. When all was ready, away we went! It was 
great fun! The dogs could carry the sleigh faster 
than horses do in this country. Sometimes the 
sleigh was bumped and tumbled about a good deal 
on the rough ice, and once in a while it tipped over. 

The dogs are about the size of shepherd dogs nnd 
have sharp pointed ears. They are very strong, and 
have heavy coats of long hair, which often drags 
upon the snow. They are of a dirty gray color. 

When my father had as many as ten or twelve 
doa"s, he had a separate snow-house for them and 
kept them in that; but when he had lost or lent his 
dogs, so that he had only two or three, he would 
let them come into the snow-house with us. Our 
dogs had the same kind of food to live on that we 
had, and sometimes when food was scarce they had 
a hard time of it. They were never fed when we 
were going to start out for a sleigh ride, for then they 
would lie right down and refuse to move one step. 



Loiio- Days and Nis^hts. j 

But whenever we came back from a ride they were 
well fed. 

Our dogs were very useful to us in other ways 
than drawing" our sleighs, for they were very sharp 
and good to hunt. They helped to kill the polar 
bear, and to find the seal and walrus. 

Now, in order that you may understand our way 
of living better, I will explain that we have six- 
months' night in Greenland, and during that time 
nothing is seen of the sun. The moon changes ver}' 
much as it does here, and we have the light of the' 
stars. Then most of the time the beautiful northern 
lights may be seen dancing and leaping about, with 
many colored rainbow beauties. The white snow is 
always on the ground, so that even when the moon 
and northern lights did not show, we could see to 
hunt round. Before and after the night time, there 
was about a month of twilight, and this was our 
finest time of the year. We had then the best 
chance to hunt. 

In the long day we had the hardest time, for then 
the sun shone out so brightly that we would be made 
snow blind if we ventured far from home. The day 
was four months long, and if we did not have food 
enough stored away in an ice cave to last us through, 
\\e would be in great danger of starving. 

The best time to hunt is when the ice breaks up. 
My people know when this is going to happen by 
the noise There is a rumbling sound like distant 
thunder. Whoever hears that sound first goes from 



8 Olof Krarcr. 

house to house and gives warning, so that all may 
be ready to join in the hunt. Then the hunters get 
their spears and let out their dogs, and hurry to the 
place where the sound is heard. The polar bear 
hears the sound also, and hastens to the place, for it 
is here that he, too, must make his living. This is 
the only time that Esquimaux ever dare to tackle a 
polar bear, for when he is going about alone and 
hungry he is very fierce and dangerous; but when 
the ice breaks up the bear goes straight for the 
sound. This grows louder and longer, until there is 
a mighty crash, louder than thunder, and great walls 
of ice are thrown high in air, and a space of open 
water is to be seen. When the commotion has 
ceased, my people crowd along the edge of the water. 
They first look out for the bear, for they don't want 
him to catch any of their seals. They have some of 
their dogs loose in front of the sleigh, and some of 
them harnessed to it. When they come to the bear, 
he is busy watching for seal and pays very little at- 
tention to the hunters or their dogs. The loose 
dogs run up to him and begin to worry him. He 
chases some of them, and the others bite him behind. 
If he makes a rush at the hunters in their sleighs, the 
dog teams draw them swiftly away. The loose dogs 
keep on worrying the bear until he becomes furious 
with rage. Every little while a sweep of his huge 
paw lays one of his enemies on the snow, silent in 
death. A few minutes later, perhaps, another will 
be caught up in the powerful embrace of the great 



A Bear Hunt. 9 

brute. The dogs crowd in and take hold wherever 
they can. The bear grows frantic in his struggles to 
punish his adversaries. At last he lies at full length 
panting upon the snow. Then it is that some hunter 
ventures to leave his dog-sled and try to kill him 
with a walrus tusk. No sooner is he sure that the 
animal is dying than he hastens to get a drink of 
warm blood. Then a long cut is made down the 
bell\- of the animal with the points of the walrus 
tusks and the skin is pulled and pushed off with their 
hands. All hands feast upon the warm grease that 
is inside the animal, and after that they divide the 
meat and take it home. 

I will now explain that the breaking up of the ice 
I have told about is not from thawing. In the 
warmest time we ever saw in that part of Green- 
land where I came from, it never thawed enough to 
make the water run in streams. A few bare spots 
were melted off on the rocks and high points of 
land. Once in a while the snow would melt enough 
to drip a little, and form icicles, but not often. It 
was cold, cold, bitter cold, all the year round, and 
the people in this country can hardly have an idea 
of it, even in the coldest weather here. From this 
we see that there could be no chance for heat 
enough to make the thick ice break up by thawing. 
Have you ever seen a tub which was full of water 
frozen nearly solid. ^ Then, perhaps you remember 
that the middle was heaved up and cracked to pieces 
by the frost. This, I think, js what takes place in 



10 01 of K rarer. 

the Northern seas, only on a far grander scale. A 
rumbling sound can be heard for some time before 
it really breaks up; but when it does come, there is 
an awful roar like loudest thunder, and great blocks 
of ice are lifted and piled one above another, until 
they are higher than the tops of the highest build- 
ings in this country. As it breaks up a good many 
times in the same place, these ice mountains are 
piled higher and higher, until they get so large we 
cannot see over them or round them at all. Each 
time the ice breaks up, there is an open space 
where the water is free from ice, and the walruses 
and seals come up to breathe. Sometimes a walrus 
will crawl away from this opening far enough for the 
hunters to head him off and kill him. The walrus 
is hard to kill, for he is so watchful, and there is no 
way to call him as they do the seal. But when killed 
he is quite a prize. 

In hunting the seal, they take a different plan. 
The seal is very fond of its young. The hunters will 
take advantage of this by lying flat on the ice and . 
making a sound like the cry of a young seal. In this I 
way they manage to call the old seal out on the ice. 
But even then it is not always easy to catch the seal, 
for it has a strong, flexible tail, by means of which | 
it is able to throw itself a good many feet at a time, I 
so that even when on the ice it sometimes gets away - 
with its awkward rolls and flops and jumps. A seal 
is very active and almost always in motion. 

Our greatest prize was the whale. Once in awhile 



Capture of a WJialc. II 

one would get entangled in the breaking ice so that 
it could not get away, and then everybody would be 
out to help or see the fun. A great many ropes of 
reindeer hide would be brought out and a great 
many spears stuck into the animal. Then the men 
would join together and try to pull the huge creature 
out of the water. Even with the help of all the dogs 
that could be used it was hard work, but they would 
manage it after a while. Then all would give a great 
shout and have great joy over the whale. One reason 
for their rejoicing was that the whale had so much 
blubber. Blubber is the inside fat of the whale. 
There is a fine skin over it and it looks like tallow 
or leaf lard. It is quite hard in my country, but 
would melt down into what you would call whale oil 
in this country. After the whale is cut up we would 
have a great feast and eat all we could. Then, after 
taking the meat home, we would spend a long time 
eating and sleeping. 

It was only when the ice broke up and the people 
came together to hunt that they met one another. 
All the rest of the time the families stay in their 
own homes, and do not visit back and forth as your 
people do. The only exceptions are, when a man 
needs meat, or blubber, or a flint, and goes to borrow, 
or when a young man goes to steal his girl. There 
is no buying and selling, and no trading. Any one 
can get what he needs by asking for it, if it is in the 
village. The people try to treat each other as broth- 
ers and sisters. 



12 Olof Krarer. 

I will now explain a strange custom among our 
people. When a young man gets to be about 25 
years old he is full grown and is considered to be of 
age. He then begins to think of beginning life for 
himself. It is a risky thing in my country to get a 
wife. A young man has to steal his girl out of her 
parents' snow-house and get her away into another. 
If he is caught trying to do this the girl's parents 
turn right on him and kill him. If he has not pluck- 
enough to steal a girl for himself, he has to live alone, 
and when he goes to sleep he crawls head first into 
a fur sack. When he wants to get up he must crawl 
out backwards. I suppose he is what you would call 
an-old bachelor. 

A young man, who sees a girl he thinks he would 
like to have for a wife, makes a great many excuses 
to come to her father's snow-house. Sometimes he 
wants to borrow a flint, or blubber, or something 
else. If he comes without an}^ excuse, the girl's pa- 
rents tell him, " I know very well what you do want; 
you want my girl, but you never shall get her." 
Then he gets kind of scared and runs off. But he 
sneaks round again pretty often. He thinks may be 
her parents will go out for a dog-sleigh ride, or may 
be they would lay them down to sleep some time. 
If he does get her out of the snow-house without 
being caught, the. girl's parents send right back for 
him and think nobody is any smarter than he is, and 
do all they can for him. 

The reason a girl's parents want the young man 



TJic Infant Rsqniniaux. 13 

to steal her is, that the}- want to find out whether he 
is willing to risk his life for his own girl or not. 
They think if he is not smart enough to steal a girl, 
he would not be smart enough to take care of her — 
kill a polar bear, so that she would have enough to 
live on. 

There are not many old bachelors in my country, 
for if a man has not spunk enough to steal a girl he 
is looked down upon as a sort of soft, good-for-noth- 
ing fellow. 

Many people are disappointed when they see me, 
because I am not darker colored, with black hair. 
More of my people have light hair than dark, and 
we know that we are naturally a fair-skinned people, 
because when a baby is born in my country it is just 
as white as any American baby, and it has light hair 
and blue eyes. But the mother does not wash it 
with soft water and soap, as they do in this country, 
but she goes to work and greases it all over, and the 
child is never washed from the day he is born till he 
dies, if he remains in that country. The mother 
wraps her little one in the skin of a young seal, 
which has been made very soft by pounding and 
rubbing it on the ice. If baby cries, the mother will 
not take it up and care for it, but she puts it in a 
corner and leaves it there until it stops crying, and 
then she takes it up and pets it. She can only nurse 
it about a month. Then the mother will warm some 
blubber for it; but in a little while it must live just 
like the rest. She carries the baby in her hood, and 



14 01 of Krarer. 

does not expect it to learn to walk until between 
two and three years old. Then she makes a suit for 
it of young seal's fur. When the child becomes 
larger, say six or seven years old, a thicker suit is 
made of polar bear skin; and then little "Auska" 
feels as proud of his new clothes as "Our Charlie" 
does of his new boots, and the chubby "Roegnia" 
rejoices over her white suit as much as dainty Flora 
in her arctics and muff and fur collar. But Au.ska 
and Roegnia are dressed more nearly alike than 
Charlie and Flora. Men's clothes are just like 
women's clothes; only a woman's coat comes down to 
a point and man's coat is cut off square, and that is 
all the difference. They wear fur mittens and fur 
shoes. 

I think it would be very nice for some ladies in 
this country, if they were to go to Greenland; for 
they would have no washing, no ironing, no scrub- 
bing and no cooking to do. They don't even have 
to wash their faces or comb their hair. Esquimaux 
people have only the salt ocean water, and if they 
had soft, fresh water they dare not use it, for it would 
be like poison to their flesh when the thermometer 
was 60- or 70° below zero. So, when they eat, my 
people take a chunk of raw meat in one hand and a 
chunk of blubber in the other, and take a bite of 
each until it is eaten. Then they carefully rub the 
grease and fat all over their hands and face, and feel 
splendid afterwards. 

The women have long hair, made dark by the 



I 



U7ia/ coi!Stiti//i-s WcnltJi. 15 

smoke and grease. The men have long hair, also, 
and a thin, scattering beard over the face, which 
they never shave or trim, because they have no 
razor or shears. 

We had no church or court house, no school or 
factory, no doctor, lawyer or merchant, no money, 
jewelry or timepiece, not an axe, spade or hammer, 
no knife, fork or spoon, no bread, no cloth, no wood! 
I never saw as much wood in my country as would 
make one little match. For a needle we use the 
tooth of a fish; for thread the sinews of a reindeer. 

Rich people were those who had a flint. Poor 
people had to go and borrow it when they wanted 
to light a fire. Common folks would sit down flat 
on the fur carpet, but "tony" people would get blocks 
of ice or snow and put in the snow-house and cover 
them with fur for seats. But it was only the most 
tonicst people who did that kind of a trick. 

My people believe in good and bad spirits. They 
think there is a big Good Spirit and several small 
ones, and one big bad spirit and several small ones. 
They think if they tell a lie or do anything wrong, 
the bad spirit will come and hurt them some way. 
If a baby gets sick the mother does not do anything 
for it. She thinks a bad spirit has hold of her child, 
and will get her too if she helps it in any way. If 
baby dies she lays it away in the cold snow and 
leaves it without a tear. When a man is sick they 
carry him into a separate snow-house, and all they 
do to help him is to throw in a piece of poor meat 



1 6 Olof Krarcr. 

which they do not care about themselves. If a 
woman is sick she is not taken from her snow-house, 
but is no better cared for. The only disease is some- 
thing like consumption in this country. After an 
Esquimaux dies they drag- him out and bury him in 
the snow, piling blocks of ice as high as they can 
above the grave. If he has not specially given his 
spear and flint and skins to some of his friends be- 
fore he dies, then everything is buried with him, and 
the friends go home to think no more about him. 
If the white bear comes along and digs up the body 
they do not care. They never speak of a departed 
friend, because they fancy it would annoy the spirit, 
which is supposed to be not far off. 

When a man is first taken sick they do one thing 
for him, if he is not very bad. They gather round 
him and sing to the Good Spirit, in hopes that He 
will drive away the bad spirit. If the sick man re- 
covers they think a great deal of him. 

Sometimes my father would tell us stories about 
his parents and grand parents, and then he would 
tell how they said that their parents told how long, 
long ago the first people had come from Norway. 
But no one knew what Norway was like. Some said 
it was a great house somewhere; some said it was the 
moon, and some said it was where the Good Spirit 
lived. 

One thing had a great deal of interest for us all. 
When the sun shone out brightly at the beginning 
of the daytime it marked the first of the year, just 



Coining of the Icclaiidcrs. 1 7 

as New Year's Day in this country. Then mother 
and father would bring out the sacks. Each one was 
made of a different kind of fur. Father had his, 
mother had hers, and each of the children one. In 
each sack was a piece of bone for every first tin-^e 
that person had seen the sun. When ten bones were 
gathered they would tie them into a bundle, for they 
had not words to count more than ten. 

In such a land was I born. In such a home was I 
brought up. In such pleasures I rejoiced, until there 
were about fourteen bones in my sack. Then some- 
thing happened which changed my whole life. Six 
tall men came to our village. Our men were much 
frightened at first and did not know what to make 
of the giants. Some thought them bad spirits. 
But they were peaceable, and went hunting with 
our people and helped them, so that after a while 
they came to like one another. The strangers were 
Iceland fishermen. After they lived with us for more 
tlian a year, they were able to explain how they were 
shipwrecked in a storm, and how they got on the ice 
and walked on the ice till they came to Greenland. 
They told how much the)- wanted to get back to 
their families, and how much better country Iceland 
was. At last, three Esquimaux families told the Ice- 
landers they would lend them their dogs and sleds 
if they would do them any good. And because they 
wanted their dogs back again they said they would 
go with them. 



1 8 Olof K rarer. 

So they started out. My father's family was the 
largest in the party, there being ten of us in all. 
Most Esquimaux families had only three or four 
children in them^ — sometimes only one child, and often 
none at all. I was a young and giddy thing then, 
and was glad to go. We traveled a long way down 
the coast, hunting as we went. Then we turned right 
out on to the ocean itself. On the way there were 
three polar bears killed and some seals and other an- 
imals, so that we had plenty to eat. I remember we 
would sometimes take something to eat when the 
sledges were flying over the ice with the dogs at full 
gallop. At intervals we fed the dogs, and they 
gathered closely round the sled and soon all were 
asleep. When we woke up we went on again. While 
on the ocean we often heard the sound of the ice 
breaking up, and would have to hurry away to escape 
being caught in the upheaval. We finally reached 
Iceland after being two months and some days on 
the way, according to the Icelanders' calculation, and 
having traveled about a thousand miles. 

The people in Iceland were astonished to see us 
little people. They came to see us from a long dis- 
tance. We were all weighed and measured. My 
father stood three feet five inches, and weighed i6o 
pounds. My mother was the same height woman 
that I am, and weighed 150. None of my brothers was 
quite so tall as my father, but they came near his 
weight. One of my sisters was only three feet two 
inches, and weighed 142. I weighed 136 pounds. 



Kind Treatnuiit by Missionaries- 19 

Now I am three feet four inches higli, and weii^h 120, 
The missionaries in Iceland took j^reat interest in 
us, for they knew we were all heathens, and they said 
they would like to take us into their schools and ed- 
ucate us. So each family was taken into a different 
school. Our family was placed in the Lutheran 
school, and there I studied for five years. My teacher 
was a good and kind man. His name was Ion Thor- 
derson. He was patient with me and helped me to 
learn; but some of the scholars were jealous of " the 
little thing" and made fun of me. For this they had 
to carry notes home to their parents, and this secured 
to them a good whipping a-piece, so that they were 
heard to wish "that little thing", had never come 
into the school. 

At first we lived several miles from the school, but 
we did not know anything about walking, in fact 
could not walk any distance, so the\- sent us on horse- 
back. They used to tie me on so that I would not 
fall off It was a funny sight to behold us eight little 
tots going to school. 

I never shall forget the time when a kind friend 
gave me a pony. He was very gentle, and small 
enough so that by leading him along side a large 
stone I was able to climb upon his back. He would 
stand quietly and wait for me. I loved my pony and 
thought there was nothing in the world like him. 
But this long ride was very hard on us, and finally 
the teacher made arrangement so that we could live 
close to the school. 



20 Olof Krarer. 

The school system was very different in some re- 
spects from American schools. The teacher was al- 
ways the minister, and the school was connected 
with the church. A scholar had first to learn to read, 
and must keep at it until he could read better than 
the teacher. Then he was called upon to commit to 
memory large portions of history and of the Bible; 
and when he had learned them so well that he could 
repeat from beginning to end without the book, he 
was allowed to begin to write. He could not take 
pen in hand before that. After learning to write, he 
was taught figures; and after that I do not know what 
was done. 

The teacher never laid a hand on the scholar in 
punishment. If he did anything wrong, a note was 
sent to his parents, and they flogged him soundly. 

I enjoyed the life in Iceland, for I saw and learned 
so much that was new. 

Some time in the spring there was a holiday, in 
which the young folks would cut up pranks, some- 
thing like the tricks of April-fool Day here. The 
girls would try to fasten a small sack of ashes upon 
the clothing of the boys, and they, in return, would 
seek to place a pebble in the pockets of the girls, 
endeavoring to do it so slyly that the sack or pebble 
would be carried about all day without the one who 
bore it knowing anything about it. 

On one of these days, a girl tied a small sack into 
the beard of one of the men, while he was asleep, and 
he wore it all day before anyone told him, and then 



The Terrors of Wi)iter. 21 

they had a great laugh at his expense. I thought I 
would try my hand at this, so I made a little sack 
and tucked it into the corner of a patch, which a big 
fellow wore upon his pants, the corner being ripped 
just enough to let the sack slip inside. I had great 
fun watching him all day, and when night came, he 
boasted that none of the girls had fooled him that 
day. "Oh, yes," said one of his companions, " the 
smallest girl in the house has fooled you badly." 
He felt pretty cheap when I pointed to the patch, 
and he found the sack sticking out so that he might 
have seen it easily. 

Picking up fuel was hard work, and took a great 
deal of time. They had but little wood, and no coal, 
so that it was necessary to gather the droppings of 
animals, and make great piles of this kind of stuff in 
the summer, so that it would be dry enough to burn 
in the winter. 

If mice came about the houses and buildings in 
the fall, the Icelanders would fear a hard winter, and 
much damage to their sheep; for when the winter 
grew very severe, and the mice could get nothing 
else to eat, they would climb upon the sheep's 
backs, while they were lying close together in the 
sheds, and would burrow into the wool, back of the 
shoulder-blades, and cat the flesh, very often causing 
the death of the poor animals. 

The Icelanders used sheep's milk a great deal, and 
I liked it. Sheep's milk is richer and sweeter than 
cow's milk. They used to put up a lot of milk in 



22 01 of K rarer. 

barrels, and put in some rennet, which would make 
it curdle into something like cottage cheese. This 
they would set aside for winter use, and all were 
very fond of it. The family would be considered 
very poor who could not put up from eight to ten 
barrels of this food. 

They sometimes, also, would churn mutton tallow, 
or whale oil, in the sheep's milk, and make a kind of 
butter. Whale oil makes a better butter than the 
tallow, and I think I like would it even yet. 

While most people had dishes and knives and 
forks, it was not customary to set the table, unless 
there was company present. Each one had a cup 
for himself, made of wood with staves like a barrel, 
and curiously bound with whale-bone hoops. They 
had handles upon them, but I do not know how fast- 
ened. A child's cup would hold about a quart, and 
a man's cup sometimes as much as three quarts. 
When each one had gotten his cup filled, he would 
take his place at any convenient spot in the room, 
on the bed, or anywhere, and proceed to empty the 
cup with great haste. We all had ravenous appe- 
tites, but did not always have enough to eat. In 
the spring we had a great treat, when the eggs and 
flesh of wild fowl were to be had. We fared well 
when fish were plenty, but at other times a porridge 
made of Iceland moss and the curdled milk made up 
our fare. Some seasons they can raise a few vege- 
tables in Iceland, but this is not often. Of late years 
they cannot raise grain, although they used to raise 
good oats. 



DcatJi of iJic Molhcr. 23 

One of the books that we had there was a history 
of America, and in that it said that money could be 
picked up off the streets, ahnost. I have since found 
it quite a difficulty. But that book put me into the 
notion to come out here. So when a colony of five 
hundred Icelanders were about to start for Manitoba, 
I got my father to come with them. He had just 
money enough to bring himself and one of his child- 
ren, so he naturally chose his youngest and the one 
that was most anxious to come. 

My mother died with consumption when we had 
been in Iceland about a year. I shall never forget 
the circumstances of her illness. I hated her, and 
turned from her just as we did in Greenland. She 
thought it was all right, and told me to keep away 
and to hate her, for fear the bad spirit would get me. 

I said to my teacher one day: " I hate my mother." 

"Why, my dear child, you should not do that." 

" But I do hate her; she has a bad spirit in her, 
and Esquimaux people always hate their friends 
when they get bad spirits in them." 

Tears ran down the good man's cheeks as he ex- 
claimed, " Why, the dear child, she doesn't know any- 
thing ! " 

Then he took me upon his knee and began 
to explain that my mother did not have a bad spirit, 
but was sick. He dropped his school work entirely, 
and for three days devoted himself to explaining the 
Christian belief Then he made me goto my mother 
and tell her all about it. My mother was glad — oh, 
so glad; and she died happy. 



24 Olof Ki-arrr. 

My four brothers and three sisters are in Iceland, 
yet. I promised when I left that I would send for 
them, and I still hope to have them all with me. 

We sailed in a ship from Iceland to Scotland. I 
cannot remember at what city we landed. I^'rom 
there I had my first railway ride, into England, and 
was much frightened by the noise and motion of the 
cars. Then we sailed to Quebec, and then came to 
Winnipeg. It took us five months and five days to 
come from Iceland to Manitoba. 

When I came to Manitoba, I was sick for nearly 
two years. The Iceland ministers were very kind to 
me, and took care of me while I was sick. When I 
got well, I started out to work for my living. I 
could not speak one word of English, and I was 
afraid to try. 

The first person I worked for was a half-breed 
woman, who had a rough, quarrelsome lot of chil- 
dren that I had to wait upon. Once in a while I was 
called into the front room, and would find some 
strangers there. One day the mistress was called 
away, when I was sent into the room, and the gentle- 
man and lady who were there gave me a quarter, 
each. She had been making money out of mc in 
this way all the while, but all the money I received 
for some months of hard labor was what these people 
gave me. 

Then I was taken sick with the measles. The 
woman turned me out of doors. I did not know 
where to go. . I just ran round and round the house. 



Life ill Manitoba 25 

A young lady, from one of the best families in Win- 
nipeg, found me in this plight, took me by the hand 
and led me home. She nursed me till I was well, 
and then gave me good clothes and found me a 
place to work. She told me to come back to her if 
I was in trouble again. 

After working for some time in this place, I came 
to work for Mrs. C, the lady who is with me now. 
When she first saw me she thought I was a little 
child, and did not see how I could be of any use to 
her. But she pitied me because she thought I 
was cold, and gave me something to do. I lived with 
her three months. When I first came to her I could 
not speak enough English to tell her I liked coffee 
better than tea. My work was washing dishes. 
They would help me into a chair so that I could 
reach the table. When at last I was able to explain, 
with the help of an Iceland girl who lived next door, 
that I desired to travel as a curiosity, hoping in this 
way to make money enough to bring my brothers 
and sisters from Iceland, Mr. and Mrs. C. consented 
to come with me. 

My father agreed to let me go, if I would go with 
respectable people and remain with them. I had 
worn my seal skin suit about in Manitoba until it 
was worn out, but my father had taken care of my 
polar bear suit, so I had that to bring with me. He 
let me bring his new flint and walrus tusk, also. 

But a few months afterwards he sent for his spear, 
because he thought he could not get along without it. 



26 Olof Kranr. 

so I returned it to him. He is still living in Mani- 
toba, and is 65 years old. This is several years older 
than people live in Greenland. Oldest people we 
ever knew were 60 years old. This I know from the 
Icelanders, who went round to all the snow houses 
and counted the bones in the different sacks. 

When I reached Minneapolis I was taken sick, and 
the doctors did not know what to do for me. They 
kept me in a warm room, and I grew worse every 
day. At last Mr. C. heard of a doctor who had been 
in Greenland, and sent for him. Under bis advice 1 
was taken to Minnetonka and kept in a cold room, 
and I got well. 

At first I traveled as a curiosity and charged ten 
cents. All I could do was to let the people see me, 
show my costume, flint and tusk, sing a few songs, 
etc. By degrees I learned to answer questions, and 
at last came to talk pretty well. While we were at 
a place in Indiana, called Cloverdale, some profes- 
sors and a minister urged me to give a lecture. They 
secured a large hall, and when I peeked through a 
hole in the curtain I saw about 300 people, and was 
nearly scared out of my wits. But Mrs. C. got me 
mad over something about my dress, and the curtain 
went up while I was standing there, and I spoke to 
them right along. That was Dec. 30th, 1884. Since 
then I have been lecturing right along, except in 
some short times of sickness, and the hottest weath- 
er. I have been in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, 
Ilinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, 



"^ Farm i)i Greenland '/ 27 

and Nebraska, and I hope by next year, to have all 
my brothers and sisters with me, so that we can 
travel together and help the missionary teachers in 
Iceland, where we got our education in the first place. 
A great many funny things have been said to me 
by visitors, and a great many curious questions 
asked. Generally, people are kind and considerate, 
but sometimes they are rude and uncivil. I am al- 
ways glad to satisfy reasonable curiosity to the best 
of my ability, but I do not like impertinence any 
better than any body else. 

I was somewhat surprised by one old lady, a year 
or so ago. After she had listened for some time, 
and become greatly interested, she came up and 
said, " Where did yeou say yeou kum from.'' " " From 
the eastern coast of Greenland." "Greenland! why 
la, yes. I know that country. My husband's got a 
farm there." A farm in Greenland! Well, a good 
many other people have made mistakes fully equal 
to the old lady's. 

Americans, I think you do not realize your bles- 
sings in this great land of plenty, where you have so 
many fine things. Even here, I often see sad faces, 
and hear words of discontent. Sometimes I am a 
little discontented myself, when I see something I 
want, and think I cannot, or ought not to, have it. 
But I soon get over that feeling when I remember 
my home in the frozen north, where we sat still 
through the weary hours, shivering with the cold, 
choked by the smoke, and often almost perishing 
with hunger. 



28 Olof Krarcr. 

If I was to go back to my race of people, I would 
not be able to tell them about what I see and hear 
in this country. They have not the language to 
express the thought. They have seen nothing like 
a sewing machine, or a piano. They have no mate- 
rials to enable them to make machines. They never 
saw a painting or a drawing. Their wild, rude songs 
is all they have that is anything like music. They 
have no idea of a book. They eat when they're 
hungry, and sleep when they're sleepy. They are 
happy and contented ic'/icii tJicy doiit know any bet- 
ter. 

The only relatives we knew about, were brothers 
and sisters, father and mother, and our grandparents. 
As for other relatives, such as uncles, aunts and 
cousins, we knew nothing about them. We lived in 
small settlements of thirty or forty families. No one 
seemed to take any interest in finding out how many 
settlements there were, or how many people lived in 
them. We had only one name each, just as you 
name animals in this country. My father's name 
was Krauker. My name was Olwar. Before we left 
Iceland, the whole family were baptized. They 
named my father Salve Krarer, and they baptized 
me Olof Krarer, making the Iceland names as near 
like the Esquimaux names as they could, but giving 
my father a new name, Salve, which means some- 
thing like "saved." 

THE END. 



EPITOME. 

On Iceland's damp and stormy shore, 
Mid Geyser's throe and Ocean's roar, 
A sturdy race on sterile soil, 
Pursue their unremitting toil; 
Struggling against stern poverty, 
And Denmark's hostile mastery. 
Farther northward, bleak and cold. 
Bound by Winter's icy hold, 
Where eternal snows abound, — 
There the Esquimaux is found. 
House of ice and suit of fur; 
Food, the flesh of polar bear; 
Tusks of walrus, the only arm. 
Ferocious beasts alone alarm; 
A dog-sleigh ride his only pleasure; 
A piece of flint his choicest treasure; 
Ambition's height to steal a wife, , 

For her he dares to risk his life. 

He tells no lie nor ever swears; 

For neighbor, as for brother, cares. 

The golden rule he never heard, 

But tries to keep its every word. 

Father to son the story told. 

How sailors hardy, brave and bold, 

Far back in bygone centuries. 

Sought to explore the Northern seas; 

Storm-bound, shipwrecked and cast- away. 



30 H pi tome. 

By horrid fate compelled to stay, 

They yielded not to grim despair, 

But bearded Winter' in his lair; 

Bravely building their snow house domes. 

They settled into northern homes. 

Lost to their ken is old Norway, 

But cherished still in their memory. 

The rising sun began the year; 

Four months his rays shone full and clear; 

A month he gave a milder light, 

'Twixt the long day and longer night. 

For half the year Aurora's beams, 

The moon's soft ray, and starry gleams. 

Guided the hunter to his home. 

Whene'er he chose afar to roam. 

Foremost among his tribe and clan. 

There lived a hardy little man; 

His wife, renowned for spirit high. 

Rejoiced in her large family; — 

Four sturdy sons, four maidens brown. 

Gathered in harmony around 

Their fireplace, and together dwelt, 

And love for one another felt. 

One fateful day there came along 

Six Iceland fishers, stern and strong. 

The Esquimaux in terror fled 

From spirits evil, so they said; 

But meeting them with friendly mien, 

The pigmies soon at ease were seen. 

The giants more contented grew, 



Epifflinc. 3 1 

And eager searched for knowledge new; 

But erst they thought of native shore, 

And longed to view their home once more. 

At length, in venturous spirit bold, 

Their purpose to their friends they told, 

To seek their lov'd land once again, 

By crossing on the frozen main. 

The trial made, the deed was done! 

A victory great, and nobly won! 

Three families assistance lent. 

Upon returning they were bent, 

Till finding this a better land. 

They settled on the barren strand; 

In mission schools were kindly taught, 

And daily grew in word and thought. 

Five years rolled by; consumption's claim 
Was laid upon the mother's frame. 
The father loved his youngest child. 
And with her crossed the ocean wild; 
With many mishaps, much fatigue. 
They found a home in Winnipeg. 

Five years again had claimed their own; 
The daughter now to woman grown. 
Though but a little child for size, 
Assayed a wond'rous enterprise — 
To win from gen'rous strangers' hand, 
By telling of her native land, 
Her fortune, and to meet once more 



32 Epitovic. 

Her sisters three and brothers four. 
Pray tell me, friend, didst e'er thou find 
A braver spirit, nobler mind, 
A name more worthy to go down 
On hist'ry's page with bright renown ? 



Captain Holm recently returned to Copenhagen, 
after having spent two years and a half exploring 
the almost unknown region of the east coast of 
Greenland. Although ten or twelve expeditions 
have set out for East Greenland in the past two cen- 
turies, almost all of them in search of the lost 
Norsemen, who were supposed to have settled there, 
only one ship ever reached the coast. 

The great ice masses, sometimes hundreds of 
miles wide, that are perpetually piled up against the 
shore, have kept explorers from East Greenland 
long after all Arctic lands were fairly well known. 
With three assistants, Captain Holm landed at Cape 
Farewell, and then went north some four hundred 
miles. He has returned with large collections, rep- 
resenting the flora, fauna, geology, and anthropology 
of this hitherto unknown portion of the earth's sur- 
face. He found in those cold and dismal regions, 
isolated from the world, a race of people who had 
never heard, or known, of the great civilized nations 
of the earth. They seemed to lead happy lives, and 
live in a communicative way in hamlets. They 
differ entirely in language, and physical character, 
from the Esquimaux of West Greenland. — Dcnior- 
esfs Monthly- ^ 



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